Dylan Minnette, Alisha Boe, Justin Prentice and more '13 Reasons Why' stars talk about season 3 of the hit Netflix show.
It's been almost a year since season two of 13 Reasons Why hit Netflix, and fans are anxiously waiting for the season three premiere date and trailer to drop.
While we all remain eager, excited and patient together, we’ve compiled everything the cast has told us about the upcoming season so far!
1. WHERE THINGS COULD PICK UP
In the controversial season two finale, Clay (Dylan Minnette) thwarts an attempted school shooting by fellow student Tyler (Devin Druid). He's left standing outside the school -- gun in hand.
"I'd be surprised if the story isn't, like, immediately picked up where it left off," Minnette told ET during an exclusive sit-down last summer. "I feel like the 13 Reasons Why fashion is that there's a time jump and we just put together the pieces of what happened in between... I don't know, I'm not confirming, but that's where I feel like it's going. I don't know what Clay does with that gun, I don't know how he gets out of it. When we were filming it, I did not realize that the sirens would sound that close," he added.
Anne Winters, who plays Chloe, agrees.
"Honestly, I kind of want to see it pick up at the same moment, and see it kind of fold out and see what happens," she told ET at a Women in Film event last June. "It's such a big scene that I feel like, you know, to skip over it would be... I don't know, I kinda wanna still see what happens, you know?"
Druid is hoping to see Tyler getting some help
"I think it would be great to kind of see Tyler have some recovery in there and see him find himself and have that support group around him," Druid said.
2. THE ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
One of the biggest bombshells from season two was the outcome of Bryce's (Justin Prentice) sexual assault trial, and Jessica's (Alisha Boe) decision to get back together with Justin (Brandon Flynn) after watching her cope with the aftermath of that assault throughout the season.
When asked about Jessica's decision to reconcile with Justin, Boe had mixed feelings.
"That is a very complicated question because I, as Alisha, was very upset because I didn't want her to go back [to Justin]," Boe admitted to ET last June. "It kind of is toxic in a way, but then you see the redemption Justin has and then you can't judge Jessica for making her own decisions."
"She's finally coming to terms with her sexuality again and feeling like her body is her own again," she added. "So, at first I read it and I was really angry. But then I realized I was Alisha and I was judging Jessica. And then I thought, 'Who am I to judge Jessica?'"
Miles Heizer thinks his character, Alex, will be upset by Jessica's choice.
"Well, I think that he doesn't really know yet, so I would imagine that he would be, he'd feel a bit heartbroken," he told ET last June. "Hopefully we'll get to find out."
And Winters thinks Chloe will stay together with Bryce, who has assaulted several women throughout the series (including Chloe, opening a new conversation about partner consent). If you'll recall, in the season two finale, Chloe told Jessica she was pregnant.
"I think [she will stay with Bryce] for a while," Winters told ET. "If they do break up, I think it would be kinda towards the end because, well, now that she's pregnant too, I feel like they both have a sense of really wanting this to kind of work out. "I don't know, I guess I could see it going both ways now that I think about it, but she was so loyal even though I wanted her not to be in the second season that I'm like...she's probably going to do it again in the third season."
"I know it's frustrating, but like I said, I'm glad that it worked out that way because it really does show that, you know, girls want something and then they may not be strong enough to do it and that's just so realistic," she added.
Meanwhile, Prentice thinks abortion could be explored.
"I think [abortion] very much could be and it would be interesting to see how they handle it because from my point of view, Bryce comes from a powerful family and they have a way of making things disappear, so I don't know. It'd be very interesting to see," he shared.
As for Clay, viewers saw him struggle with the aftermath of Hannah's (Katherine Langford) suicide and watched his romance with Skye end in season two. While it doesn’t seem likely that Clay will jump into a new romantic relationship, Minnette acknowledges it could happen.
"I think if there is potentially [a love interest], I think Clay would definitely, probably try to avoid it at this point," he said. "I think, I imagine the last thing Clay is going to want right now, given his past record so far, is a love interest. But, I think maybe he won’t be able to avoid it… we’ll see."
3. THE FRIENDSHIPS
Season two also saw the development of Clay’s friendship with Justin -- in the end, the Jensens even want to adopt him! Minnette says he is looking forward to seeing that friendship progress.
"What I think is really cool is that the first person you see Clay interact with on the show is Justin back in episode one [of season one]," Minnette explained. "They hate each other, like they couldn’t hate each other more… one of the least-expected things would be for Clay and Justin to become family and also, you know, I think that Justin and Clay both saved each other in season two."
"Justin is the one who talked Clay down from either killing Bryce or killing himself and Clay is the one who went and got Justin off the street and tried to clean him up and be there for him, although we ultimately see that Justin is still reverting back to old habits, but they needed each other and who would have thought that those two people would end up needing each other in order to, I don’t know, like, even live," he added. "So I’m excited to see. I’m sure they’ll be, like, roommates still in season three, that'd be cool."
As for whether we’ll see Justin in recovery, Minnette isn’t as sure.
"I mean, I hope so… gosh, I don’t know," he said.
Steven Silver is hoping to explore his character, Marcus', loyalty to Bryce.
"I wanna see Marcus explore his relationship with Bryce in season three," he revealed in September. "I think he's very influenced by Bryce and, who knows, maybe we will see that!"
And we should keep an eye out for some more Chloe and Jessica scenes.
"I think that her knowing that Jessica went through the same thing, kind of, is like her only, it's like literally her only person that she trusts right now," Winters said.
4. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
"I think that there's a lot to be addressed with Clay," Minnette shared. "I think even seeing him in therapy at some point or something… having someone to talk to and having Clay be able to face these problems that he has... I think that it's not fully recognized by himself or any of the characters surrounding him yet," he explains. "And that's exactly something I would love to see explored."
"To continue the conversation of, you know, mental illness and everything can really be explored through Clay. I think there's a lot to be discussed with him,” he added.
"I think [Tyler] has a lot of issues to work out," Druid said. "We see him go to a behavioral camp during the season that specifically targets his anger issues but that doesn't necessarily mean that those are the only issues that he's dealing with, especially now after his assault, so I guess we'll find out."
Boe hopes to empower women with Jessica's storyline.
"I hope that she will empower other girls around her because there are so many other people in the school that have been harassed or assaulted by Bryce or other jocks, so I hope she gets empowered by that and helps those girls," she said.
As for where Bryce will go now that he has revealed he's transferring following the aftermath of his assault trial... well, that remains to be seen.
"I don't know if our writers will give [Bryce] any redeeming qualities down the road but it will be interesting to find out... there's a human in there," he explained. "A lot of these instances of rape and sexual assault are from someone that you already know, that are in your trust circle and the majority are from someone you or your family knows. It's usually not a stranger, so a lot of these cases are people who have lost their way or haven't been educated on what consent is or haven't been taught how to respect women or respect human beings in general, so that's something that can change. There is hope out there, just don't know if there is for Bryce."
5. THE SHOW WITHOUT HANNAH
"Hannah is wrapped. Hannah is officially done on 13 Reasons Why and I feel really proud to have been a part of the project," Langford confirmed to ET last year after rumors of her departure started circulating.
"Even if Hannah isn't in season three, her story is something I'm gonna carry with me and I think also a lot of other people are gonna carry with them and I just hope, that if anything, I can be there in a small way on social media," she added.
When asked about returning in flashback form, it was a little more complicated.
"I mean, if they want me, that's all up to them," she shared.
While Minnette will miss Langford, he's excited to see Clay evolve... without her character.
"I feel like with season two, Clay was really carrying the weight of Hannah still, obviously, more than before, more than ever before, and now that that's gone, I’m excited to see kind of Clay being a little wiser, a little more grown up, given everything that he’s gone through," Minnette said. "Just seeing how he deals with this moving forward in his life and not having, not carrying the guilt and weight of Hannah anymore, and just seeing what new challenges await for him even that aren’t involving Hannah."
"I think if anyone expects Clay to have an easy path in any season, we know we're wrong," he continued. "I think that season three is definitely not gonna be easy for Clay or any of these people and if it was, I don’t think we’d be the show anymore. Yeah, man, I’m nervous to know what Clay is gonna go through in season three."
6. ADDRESSING THE CRITICS
Following the release of season two, the Parents Television Council issued a statement asking Netflix to pull 13 Reasons Why off its streaming service "because of its potential to harm teens and children."
It's still going to be tough to change people's minds. And the cast knows it.
"I think that there's no winning," Minnette said. "I think if you are addressing these topics on a show, I think a lot of people aren't used to it and it doesn't really happen that often, like surrounding teens on a television series in a way that the show does. I just think that no matter how you do it, there's gonna be an equal amount of critique and controversy. Even if we were doing what those critics say we should do, I think they'd also be criticizing for it doing it too much."
Prentice feels the same.
"I see where they are coming from, but at the same time, one of the jobs of our show is to reflect reality, so this stuff is already going on in these high schools, these kids are already experiencing it in their day-to-day lives, so having a show where we address these issues, even if you don’t necessarily agree with the way that we address them, the fact that we are addressing them and having these conversations, I think it kind of bridges the gap if parents wanted to watch it with their children," he said. "At the end of the day, controversy or not, people are talking about these issues, 'cause that’s the first step in changing."
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